- Volume 139, Issue 1, 1993

The phytopathogenicity of Erwinia chrysanthemi is chiefly supported by the production of pectate lyase isoenzymes, encoded by the pel genes. One of these enzymes, PelA, encoded by the pelA gene, seems to represent only a small part of the total pectate lyase activity, but is required for full bacterial pathogenicity. To study the regulation of pelA gene expression, a pelA::uidA gene fusion was constructed. Expression of this fusion was analysed under various growth conditions and in various genetic backgrounds. Whatever the culture conditions, the pelA gene was weakly expressed. Moreover, pelA expression seems not to be regulated by the pecS gene product, but essentially by the kdgR gene product. In many plant-associated bacteria, genes involved in pathogenicity are induced by certain plant compounds. In this work, we demonstrate that E. chrysanthemi pel genes are induced in the presence of plant extracts, but only in synergy with known pectate lyase inducers (KDG: 2-keto-3-deoxygluconate; DKII: 2,5-diketo-3-deoxygluconate). However, different pel genes did not exhibit the same sensitivity to plant signal molecules. Partial purification of inducing plant compounds suggested that plant extracts contain at least one molecule involved in pectate lyase induction. This compound is thermoresistant, and has a low molecular mass and a very hydrophilic behaviour.